diff --git a/.jules/bolt.md b/.jules/bolt.md
index 254b8d5..6eca001 100644
--- a/.jules/bolt.md
+++ b/.jules/bolt.md
@@ -13,3 +13,7 @@
 ## 2025-02-18 - Regex Pre-compilation in Hot Paths
 **Learning:** Re-compiling regexes inside a frequently called function (like `latex_escape` which runs for every string) creates significant overhead. Pre-compiling them at module level yielded a ~3.2x speedup.
 **Action:** Always look for regex compilations inside loops or frequently called functions and move them to module level constants.
+
+## 2025-02-18 - API Event Loop Starvation
+**Learning:** In ASGI applications like FastAPI, running heavy synchronous tasks (like PDF compilation via `pdflatex`, running large ATS regex generation, or making blocking external AI calls) blocks the main thread, leading to event loop starvation and reducing throughput dramatically.
+**Action:** Always wrap heavy synchronous functions using `functools.partial` and offload them to background worker threads using `await anyio.to_thread.run_sync()`.
diff --git a/api/main.py b/api/main.py
index 08b7b6c..9bc1182 100644
--- a/api/main.py
+++ b/api/main.py
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
+import functools
 import logging
 import os
 import tempfile
 from pathlib import Path
 
+import anyio
 import yaml
 from fastapi import FastAPI, HTTPException, Response, Security
 from fastapi.middleware.cors import CORSMiddleware
@@ -171,7 +173,13 @@ async def render_pdf(request: ResumeRequest):
             # We output to a temp file
             output_pdf = temp_path / "output.pdf"
 
-            generator.generate(variant=request.variant, output_format="pdf", output_path=output_pdf)
+            func = functools.partial(
+                generator.generate,
+                variant=request.variant,
+                output_format="pdf",
+                output_path=output_pdf,
+            )
+            await anyio.to_thread.run_sync(func)
 
             if not output_pdf.exists():
                 raise HTTPException(status_code=500, detail="PDF generation failed")
@@ -215,9 +223,12 @@ async def tailor_resume(request: TailorRequest):
         # We pass None for yaml_path as we use direct data
         generator = AIGenerator(yaml_path=None, config=config)
 
-        tailored_data = generator.tailor_data(
-            resume_data=request.resume_data, job_description=request.job_description
+        func = functools.partial(
+            generator.tailor_data,
+            resume_data=request.resume_data,
+            job_description=request.job_description,
         )
+        tailored_data = await anyio.to_thread.run_sync(func)
 
         return tailored_data
 
@@ -248,7 +259,10 @@ async def ats_check(request: ATSRequest):
 
         # Generate ATS report directly from resume data
         generator = ATSGenerator(config=config, resume_data=request.resume_data)
-        report = generator.generate_report(request.job_description, request.variant)
+        func = functools.partial(
+            generator.generate_report, request.job_description, request.variant
+        )
+        report = await anyio.to_thread.run_sync(func)
 
         # Convert to JSON-serializable format
         result = {
@@ -300,12 +314,14 @@ async def generate_cover_letter(request: CoverLetterRequest):
 
         # Generate cover letter (always use non-interactive for API)
         # The provided answers will be used as context by the AI
-        outputs, job_details = generator.generate_non_interactive(
+        func = functools.partial(
+            generator.generate_non_interactive,
             job_description=request.job_description,
             company_name=request.company_name,
             variant=request.variant,
             output_formats=[request.format],
         )
+        outputs, job_details = await anyio.to_thread.run_sync(func)
 
         # Return the generated content
         # Note: outputs["md"] contains the rendered markdown, outputs["pdf"] contains LaTeX
@@ -560,7 +576,10 @@ async def render_resume_pdf(resume_id: str, variant: str = "base"):
             generator = TemplateGenerator(yaml_path=resume_yaml_path)
             output_pdf = temp_path / "output.pdf"
 
-            generator.generate(variant=variant, output_format="pdf", output_path=output_pdf)
+            func = functools.partial(
+                generator.generate, variant=variant, output_format="pdf", output_path=output_pdf
+            )
+            await anyio.to_thread.run_sync(func)
 
             if not output_pdf.exists():
                 raise HTTPException(status_code=500, detail="PDF generation failed")